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A review by mangosugar
Something Wilder by Christina Lauren
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I really wanted to love this book, or like it more than I do now. I love Christina Lauren’s books and I’m always down to give a writing duo a shot because I know how close you have to be with someone for your writing to click like theirs does.
Unfortunately, Something Wilder fell flat for me. It’s ironic since one of my favourite books of 2022 is a Midwestern adventure romance, so I got really hyped up for this one, but it just did not deliver.
I dislike the female main character, Lily, for a multitude of reasons, the main one being her dynamic with her counterpart, Leo. I’m a sucker for drawn-out love stories that span across years and have the couple reuniting haphazardly to work things out, but I lost most of my sympathy for Lily right at the peak of their reunification, right when I’m supposed to like them most. I don’t want to spoil this review so I’ll keep it vague: I don’t like how she treated Leo.
The other big reason this book fell flat for me was the actual adventure. While I appreciate all the work, research, and effort the authors put into their description of the land and the logistics of the riddles, it took *so* long to get to the real adventure. And then it just dragged. A few scenes of the characters struggling and messing up could’ve been shucked and it wouldn’t change anything.
And my God, could we have done with less smut. I’m all for sex scenes in romance, and I think Christina & Lauren generally do a good job writing them, so I don’t know if my dislike for Lily played a part in my getting fed up with the overabundance of sex or these characters really are just too damn horny. I wish we would have gotten to see Lily and Leo actually enjoy each other more outside of their sexual attraction, I feel it might’ve made all the unrestrained thirst more enjoyable 😭
Credit where credit’s due, though, I very much enjoyed Leo and the secondary characters. Walter is a gem and he needs a spin-off as much as I need to find a shit ton of money so my life doesn’t spiral into nothingness… which I need badly. And while certain parts of the adventure didn’t hit as hard as it should’ve, I do think the last twist was well executed. I had an inkling, but I was still surprised and I enjoyed the last 70-ish pages of the action much more than the rest of the book.
To conclude, is this a bad book? No. I find it mediocre, but not bad. In comparison to other Christina Lauren novels, do I think it’s bad when it’s up to those standards? Let’s just say I know these two writers could do and *have done* much better.
Unfortunately, Something Wilder fell flat for me. It’s ironic since one of my favourite books of 2022 is a Midwestern adventure romance, so I got really hyped up for this one, but it just did not deliver.
I dislike the female main character, Lily, for a multitude of reasons, the main one being her dynamic with her counterpart, Leo. I’m a sucker for drawn-out love stories that span across years and have the couple reuniting haphazardly to work things out, but I lost most of my sympathy for Lily right at the peak of their reunification, right when I’m supposed to like them most. I don’t want to spoil this review so I’ll keep it vague: I don’t like how she treated Leo.
The other big reason this book fell flat for me was the actual adventure. While I appreciate all the work, research, and effort the authors put into their description of the land and the logistics of the riddles, it took *so* long to get to the real adventure. And then it just dragged. A few scenes of the characters struggling and messing up could’ve been shucked and it wouldn’t change anything.
And my God, could we have done with less smut. I’m all for sex scenes in romance, and I think Christina & Lauren generally do a good job writing them, so I don’t know if my dislike for Lily played a part in my getting fed up with the overabundance of sex or these characters really are just too damn horny. I wish we would have gotten to see Lily and Leo actually enjoy each other more outside of their sexual attraction, I feel it might’ve made all the unrestrained thirst more enjoyable 😭
Credit where credit’s due, though, I very much enjoyed Leo and the secondary characters. Walter is a gem and he needs a spin-off as much as I need to find a shit ton of money so my life doesn’t spiral into nothingness… which I need badly. And while certain parts of the adventure didn’t hit as hard as it should’ve, I do think the last twist was well executed. I had an inkling, but I was still surprised and I enjoyed the last 70-ish pages of the action much more than the rest of the book.
To conclude, is this a bad book? No. I find it mediocre, but not bad. In comparison to other Christina Lauren novels, do I think it’s bad when it’s up to those standards? Let’s just say I know these two writers could do and *have done* much better.